Conveyor counter



Jan. 9, 1962 K. L. WlLCOX 3,016,123

CONVEYOR COUNTER Filed June 9, 1960 FIG. 2

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INVENTOR. KENNETH L. WILCOX ATTORNEY$ Umfed Sees Q i 3,016,123 3 1CONVEYOR COUNTER Kenneth L. Wilcox, 99 Carr StL, Providence 5, R1. FiledJune 9,1960, Ser. No. 34,974 4 Claims. (Cl.- 19335) This inventionrelates to a conveyor counter and more particularly to a form ofunitcounter which may be readily attached to a conveyor to automaticallyregister the number of packages passing thereby.

It has generally been the practice to manually count the number ofpackages as they are delivered from a truck to a warehouse or the likeand it would of course be obvious that if the number of packages islarge that the manual counting becomes a tedious job. This would ofcourse lead to errors in the counting of the packages and it isdesirable to have a mechanical counter with a construction which willinsure each and every package is counted as it is delivered from thetruck.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a countingassembly which may be readily attached to a conventional construction ofa conveyor which has a plurality of parallel axles supporting a numberof rollers thereon.

It is another object of the invention to have a tripping meansassociated with the counter which will insure that a count is made nomatter whether the carton is dented or is otherwise distorted from itsusual rectangular shape.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an attachmentmeans for the counter which will insure a rigid attachment to" theconveyor by attaching the counter to a portion of the conveyor whichwill not normally distort under usual loads.

With these and other objects in'view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a conveyor with a counter assembly thereon being usedin the operation of discharging packages from a truck;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the conveyor of FIG. 1 withthe counter assembly of the invention attached thereto;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the counter assembly illustrated on a largerscale with parts broken away; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the counter assembly of the invention.

veyor there is mounted a counting assembly generally" designated 14which is located substantially midway of the length of the conveyor. Theconveyor utilized is of usualconstruction and includes a plurality. oflongitudinal frame members 15 through which a plurality of axles 16.having wheels 17 are disposed. The wheels 17, of course, reduce thefriction of the cartons passing down the conveyor and serve to elevatethe cartons above the longitudinal supporting rails'15.

The counter assembly which is shown more particularly in FIGS. 3and 4comprisesa supportingplate 20 with an attachment clip 21 arising fromone side thereof and a second attachment clip 22 arising from the endthereof; The clip .21 may bemade integral with the 3,016,123 Patentedan. 9, 1.9 62

'ice

' may be similarly formed from and as a -continuation of the supportingplate 20 being bent upwardly substantially I at right angles to theplate 20 as at 26 where it rises vertically for a distance to a reversebend 27 where the stock is turned downwardly to extend somewhat parallelto the vertical portion and then is bent inwardly as at 28 to form aclipportion.

Referring to FIG. 2 it will be seen that the supporting clip means 21 isadapted to be received over an axle 16 and the clip support means 22 isadapted to be received over a longitudinal rail v15. This mounting meansinsures rigid support of the counting assembly and insures that norotation thereof will occur. Further by virtue of the fact that a onepoint axle support is provided together with a longitudinal railsupport, any distortion or bending of the axle or the rails will notaffect the mounting of the counter upon the conveyor. It frequentlyhappens that the axles become bent through usage and a single'pointmounting thereon would impede such a mounting of the counter wheredesired upon a conveyor. This two point mounting obviates suchdifficulty.

A register or standard counting mechanism 30 is secured to thesupporting plate 20 in a suitable fashion such as by bolts 31 (see FIG.3). The counting mechanism is of a conventional type and is providedwith an actuating shaft 32 that extends from one end of the assembly.Attached to this actuating shaft 32 is a resilient arm 33 which iscomposed of resilient spring material shown in the form of a closelywound helix with a solid tip end 34 which extendswithin the helix a'slight distance as ,shown better in FIG. 3. Means are provided withinthe counting mechanism 30 to spring bias the arm 33 into a verticalposition andmovement of the arm 33 from its vertical position will causeactuation of the counting mechanism to indicate passage of 7 onepackage. The indication. is shown at the visible indicating means shownthrough the window 35.

To prevent over travel of the arm 33 a stop means in the form of anupwardly bent arm 38 is provided adjacent the arm 33. -.This upwardlyextending portion 38 from the plate 20 may have a reverse bend portionas at 39 to provide an arcuate contact for the arm 33 when it strikesthe limit stop. This prevents damage of the counting mechanism 26 due toovertravel.

In operation it will be apparent that as a carton such as 13 moves downthe conveyor, it will strike the actuating lever 33 moving it, therebycausing rotation of the shaft 32 and the register of a single count.After the package has passed, the arm 33 will return to a verticalposition by means of the spring within the counting mechanism. Shouldfor any reason a package 13 be damaged such that the bottom wall thereofis dented inwardly, the provision of the spring arrangement of arm 33insures that it will extend up far enough to engage a portion of thispackage and cause a count since the" arm 33 can be bent at substantiallyright angles to its normal position without damage to any of themechanism. This thus provides a conveyor counter which supporting plate20 and bent'in an upwardor right reliable in operation.

The counter of this assembly may be readily attached to a conveyorwhether it'be damaged or not because of the-two-point mounting and willstay in place regardless of vibrations. Y

II claim:

1. A counterflforta conveyor having a plurality of 7. 4 plate a distancegreater than the clip means.

2. In a counter foraconveyor as in claim 1 wherein said actuating leveris a resilient lever throughout its length.

3. In a counter for aconveyor as in claim 1 wherein there is a stoptotlimitthemovementof said lever.

4. -In a counter for a conveyor asin claim 1 wherein there is a stop tolimit the movement ofgsaid lever, said stop being carried by saitlsupporting; plate.

References .Cited in the, file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSArmstrong Jan; 4, 1927 2,613,789 McLaughlin .j.'Oct.'l'4, fl9S2'

